New Anzac memories for HMS Centaur

On 23/04/2010
In Famous Wrecks
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By Robert Blackmore - ABC Sunshine Coast

Now that the location of the sunken hospital ship the Centaur is known, this Anzac Day will hold a special significance for the relatives of those who lost their lives in 1943.

Now that the location of the sunken hospital ship the Centaur is known, this Anzac Day will hold a special significance for the relatives of those who lost their lives in 1943.

As Australians all over the world prepare to remember our lost diggers during Anzac Day memorials and dawn services, the memory of the Centaur will begin a new phase.

For more than 60 years the exact location of the World War II hospital ship torpedoed by the Japanese of the South East Queensland coast had not been known. However with the site now found by ship wreck hunter David Mearns and images of the Centaur being made public, the 268 people lost when it sunk in 1943 can be remembered with a new sense of closure.

The shipwreck was found last December and a wreath will be laid during Sunday's service at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. Centaur Association president Richard Jones says this Sunday's Anzac Day will have added significance for the friends and relatives of those killed in the Centaur sinking.

Mr Jones says there is now a feeling of relief since the wreck was found and this Sunday's ceremony will have extra meaning for people who lost someone.

"In the past they participated in Anzac Day marches, but it's always been, 'well, we know it happened but we don't know where they are' and that question's been settled once and for all," he said.